Recently on youtube I've been watching a lot of epsiodes from the early 80s incarnation of The Twilight Zone. Some of them still hold up well, others I think are really lame and try too hard to be comedies.

However, I also have become interested in the incarnation of the show that they put out in the early 2000s. Lasted just one season with of all people, Forrest Whitaker standing in for Serling (and not doing a good job in my opinion). I didn't hear much about this when it was on the air and never watched it, but recently I've been watching it on DVD. Anyone have any thoughts on it?

First thing I noticed was how much I hated the new "theme." The one from the 80s I thought was awesome, and in some ways I like more than the original music used throughout the seasons of the original show. But the one from the 2002 incarnation is from a guy from Korn and I think too aggressive and grating, and lacks the creepiness it needs.

I have found a lot of the episodes kind of lame, with twists that are easy to predict, but there are some that I think are actually pretty good. I wish they had done what the 80s version did, which is tap into the fantasy and horror writer talent available at the time. You had Bradbury, Ellison, even George R.R. Martin writing for it, and adaptions of stories by King, Matheson, McCammon.

I was most interested in the "redo's" of original episodes that that the newest version did. The one I found the least interesting was the redo of "Eye of the Beholder." It was a straight remake that was done exactly the same, same dialogue, only change was the makeup for the "normal" people. I don't understand remakes that are exactly the same. If you're giving me a new version, bring something new to the table or else what's the point? Might as well watch the original.

I thought the redo of "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"--this one called "The Monsters Are on Maple Street"--was a good example. They took the original story, and instead of aliens they replaced it with terrorists (and this was just a year after 9/11 so very relevant), and I thought this gave it a very modern take on the paranoia of the original and worked beautifully.

My favorite was "It's Still a Good Life", which isn't a remake of the original episode "It's a Good Life" but a sequel. The actor who played creepy little Anthony returns as an adult version of the character, Cloris Leechman reprises her role as his mother, and I thought it was a lot of fun, especially for those of us who love the original episode.

Anyway, I've babbled enough. Just wanted to get some thoughts on the 2002 version of The Twilight Zone from anyone else who has seen it.